Is cooking becoming a lost art?

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cdtm
I realize easy quick meals are necessary these days, but it seems like doing it yourself from scratch may die out with the Boomers.

Even proper barbecues on a grill seem to have been replaced by trays from supermarkets (And if you've never enjoyed steak tips, chops, or bbq platters of various flavors done from someones own recipie, you haven't lived. Blows away anything pre-made or at a restaurant, if done by a good enthusiast.)

Surtur
I hope it's not, but I think it is.

TempAccount
I'm sure it will be, sadly.

Last week I made some authentic Japanese curry chicken---It was great, but I spent way longer making it than I originally wanted to.

I could have easily gone to Trader Joes or Whole Foods and gotten something comparable, frozen, ready-to-eat.

Housewives are (fortunately) becoming a thing of the past so working people in general don't have the time to really make anything complicated anymore.

I still value cooking as a skill though; primarily because I don't trust other people to cook my food.

samhain
The cost effectiveness of cooking from scratch has gone with the obliteration of the traditional family, it's not really practical for single people to cook a huge pot of stew for example, at least if you don't want to wind up eating the same thing for four days. Preparing food as a pastime/hobby/artform is going nowhere yet though.

One Big Mob
I've been experimenting with bbq'ing and smoking lately.

The problem with takeout besides cost is it isn't that good. It does in a pinch but the majority of it doesn't come close to something you can cook at home. And don't get me started on frozen food.

And throwing a roast or slab of meat in the slow cooker or oven before work/bed isn't much effort. A couple days of meals for minimal prep work. Smoking has proven to take more time and effort, but I'm getting used to it. My main issue is dealing with the coals so far, but need to buy a chimney to bypass effort.

Cooking something on the stovetop isn't much effort either. Unless you're getting into like a 10 step 30-spice curry or something it doesn't take much effort.

Baking seems like it's very time consuming on the other hand. Very productive but a lot of work based on very minimal experience.


As long as you have shit like dried beans, rice, spices and a MEAT, you can make a ton of food for cheap. Butcher shops are also your friends.

TempAccount
Originally posted by One Big Mob
I've been experimenting with bbq'ing and smoking lately.

The problem with takeout besides cost is it isn't that good. It does in a pinch but the majority of it doesn't come close to something you can cook at home. And don't get me started on frozen food.

And throwing a roast or slab of meat in the slow cooker or oven before work/bed isn't much effort. A couple days of meals for minimal prep work. Smoking has proven to take more time and effort, but I'm getting used to it. My main issue is dealing with the coals so far, but need to buy a chimney to bypass effort.

Cooking something on the stovetop isn't much effort either. Unless you're getting into like a 10 step 30-spice curry or something it doesn't take much effort.

Baking seems like it's very time consuming on the other hand. Very productive but a lot of work based on very minimal experience.


As long as you have shit like dried beans, rice, spices and a MEAT, you can make a ton of food for cheap. Butcher shops are also your friends. Smoking food eh? You like consuming carcinogens?

One Big Mob
I like consuming flavor. Nothing in there indicated I wanted to live.

cdtm
thumb up Life without some risk is a boring life.


I don't know about you, but I like topping my carcinogen meals with a cigar.

BrolyBlack
Why do you like to destroy your body?

riv6672
With all the cooking shows and channels out there, i dont think so.

LordofBrooklyn
No, Robtard's wife is an EXCELLENT cook and prepares my meals as ordered!

Flyattractor
I love to Cook....it is the cleaning up afterwards that I hate.

Blakemore
Cooking is an odd one. Any idiot can cook for themselves, it's cooking for other people that's impressive.

I think it won't die out purely because it's an awesome idea for a date and for the kids, but the fact that we have less of it makes me appreciate it more.

jaden_2.0
Originally posted by One Big Mob
I've been experimenting with bbq'ing and smoking lately.

The problem with takeout besides cost is it isn't that good. It does in a pinch but the majority of it doesn't come close to something you can cook at home. And don't get me started on frozen food.

And throwing a roast or slab of meat in the slow cooker or oven before work/bed isn't much effort. A couple days of meals for minimal prep work. Smoking has proven to take more time and effort, but I'm getting used to it. My main issue is dealing with the coals so far, but need to buy a chimney to bypass effort.

Cooking something on the stovetop isn't much effort either. Unless you're getting into like a 10 step 30-spice curry or something it doesn't take much effort.

Baking seems like it's very time consuming on the other hand. Very productive but a lot of work based on very minimal experience.


As long as you have shit like dried beans, rice, spices and a MEAT, you can make a ton of food for cheap. Butcher shops are also your friends.

H34QpoJsmrw

Putinbot1
I have a chef called George he cooks Nigerian dishes for Mira brilliantly and western/non nigerian dishes for me including some Chinese and Indian for me. Sometimes though, I just enjoy cheese and a few bottles of red.

Putinbot1
Originally posted by One Big Mob
I've been experimenting with bbq'ing and smoking lately.

The problem with takeout besides cost is it isn't that good. It does in a pinch but the majority of it doesn't come close to something you can cook at home. And don't get me started on frozen food.

And throwing a roast or slab of meat in the slow cooker or oven before work/bed isn't much effort. A couple days of meals for minimal prep work. Smoking has proven to take more time and effort, but I'm getting used to it. My main issue is dealing with the coals so far, but need to buy a chimney to bypass effort.

Cooking something on the stovetop isn't much effort either. Unless you're getting into like a 10 step 30-spice curry or something it doesn't take much effort.

Baking seems like it's very time consuming on the other hand. Very productive but a lot of work based on very minimal experience.


As long as you have shit like dried beans, rice, spices and a MEAT, you can make a ton of food for cheap. Butcher shops are also your friends. Belated happy birthday Brandon.

riv6672
Originally posted by Flyattractor
I love to Cook....it is the cleaning up afterwards that I hate.
I clean as i go. thumb up

dadudemon
No and people are cooking and exploring the culinary arts more than ever. At no point in history has cooking been bigger and more varied.

shiv
Consumption is more varied.

Actual cooking at home from scratch is not.

dadudemon
Originally posted by shiv
Consumption is more varied.

Actual cooking at home from scratch is not.

But foodnetwork says you're wrong:

https://www.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/news/2018/9/americans-are-cooking-more-meals-at-home--eating-out-less


Americans Are Cooking More Meals at Home, Eating Out Less




If what you said was correct, then the sit-down restaurant industry would not be struggling because of the millennials not eating.

snowdragon
We know people are eating more in the USA which means naturally someone somewhere is cooking for the fatties.

I don't think cooking is becoming a lost art, maybe the discipline to not eat is an "art" we need to practice more of in the USA and apparently the UK.

dadudemon
Originally posted by snowdragon
We know people are eating more in the USA which means naturally someone somewhere is cooking for the fatties.

I don't think cooking is becoming a lost art, maybe the discipline to not eat is an "art" we need to practice more of in the USA and apparently the UK.

Yes, the UK is on track to surpass the US. I can't remember, I posted a thread about it.


But the UK has NHS and they have started several programs to help. Likely, the UK will not surpass the US because they are taking steps with their UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE.

Flyattractor
Originally posted by Flyattractor
I love to Cook....it is the cleaning up afterwards that I hate.

Originally posted by riv6672
I clean as i go. thumb up

Easy to do when you have pet dogs....Great Little Kitchen Helpers.

shiv
Do you use a pasta sauce or do you make your own pasta sauce

Do you make your own pasta from scratch like a chef

Do you make your own chocolate

Do you bake your own bread

Do you buy cake / pancake / muffin mix or do you buy the ingredients for it

Do you pickle your own vegetables or do you buy pickles

Do you grind your own spices and grind your own spice rub

Do you actually have time for all that?

The answer for most people is no.

There are dishes I know kids today have no idea of.

Their parents just don't got the time.

If I think of the meal prep my grandmother taught me
she even used to grind the grain for the stoneground flour she used in some dishes. My uncle told me of a special dish prepared for newlyweds (no one I know has had it in the last ... in a very long time.

There are some meat and vegetables in Europe especially which just dissappear from shelves (some of this is due to climate factors and some to restriction of movement on che... cost effective seasonal labour and some is the result of decades of unsustainable fishing and farming practices... in 2018 the UK went for about 4 months with no free range chicken or free range eggs being produced. No commercial poultry producers were allowed to let their birds outdoors, legally retailers and producers were allowed to keep using the free range product tag for about four months which was enough)

I used to get my beef from a slaughterhouse - waiting in line was a nightmare. It was mostly restauranteurs. (They opened at 5am and They closed Early)

Now I buy my meat from grocery stores ... the variety sucks. Didn't notice it as much before. I do now.

I'm seeing good quality unpolished unblanched plain wholegrain rice become harder to find.

In some grocery stores just ask if they have popping corn kernels ... after you're done being given a blank stare you may be directed to a range of salted, sugared or otherwise flavored popped corn and microwave oven popping corn products + 1 or maybe 2 different packs of seed.

Sometimes when people claim variety its just one thing
mycoprotein prepared as beef flavored mycoprotein, chicken flavoured mycoprotein, lamb flavoured mycoprotein or bacon is mycoprotein.

Same with soy protein products. You can consume it in a latte, as ice cream or yogurt, on a plate shaped like a chicken, in a rice husk sausage or a tasty burger ... its the same thing.

dadudemon
Originally posted by shiv
Do you use a pasta sauce or do you make your own pasta sauce

Make my own. The pre-made stuff is usually not that good. thumb up

Tell anyone's nonna that you buy Ragu for your spaghetti and you'll get an ass chewing. You might even get slapped on the hand or back a few times, too.

Originally posted by shiv
Do you buy cake mix or do you actually buy the ingredients for it

Buy the ingredients for it. But this is splitting hairs. Do you make your own vegetable oil or do you purchase it? It requires far more to make your own vegetable oil than it does to make a cake from the ingredients.

Originally posted by shiv
Do you make your own pasta from scratch like a chef

Sure have and it's awesome and delicious.

Originally posted by shiv
Do you bake your own bread

Yes and I don't use a bread maker. I made a how-to video for making croissants. It takes about 4 hours the way I make them. They are delicious, though.

Originally posted by shiv
Do you make your own chocolate

No. Nor do I make my own cocoa powder, which is the much harder step. Nor has anyone for hundreds of years. You buy that from a specialist.

Originally posted by shiv
Do you pickle your own vegetables or do you buy pickles

I pickled them for over 10 years including growing them in a garden and raising them. Best pickled okra is still the okra that I grew myself and pickled.

Originally posted by shiv
Do you grind your own spices and grind your own spice rub

You do it when you grind peppercorns onto your food. And I assemble my own BBQ rubs.

Do you grow your own spices and pulverize them after dehydrating them?

Originally posted by shiv
Do you actually have time for all that?

Yes and no. I don't have time to grow stuff on cocoa farms or vegetable oil and processing farms.

Originally posted by shiv
The answer for most people is no.

According to the actual data, the answer is yes. Almost everyone is making their own food at home.

Originally posted by shiv
There are dishes I know kids today have no idea of.

That's true of literally every generation in human history. Your ancedote adds nothing.

Originally posted by shiv
Their parents just don't got the time.

That's not excuse. We live in the information age where we can find almost anything in seconds. Ignorance of food is not an excuse. Nor should it be required that parents teach their children obscure food stuff.




Originally posted by shiv
I'm seeing good quality unpolished unbalanced plain wholegrain rice become harder to find.

Sounds like you're just getting old and don't know how to use a computer. You can order a wider variety of foods, online, than you can buy at your local store. You have access to a larger variety of foods than ever before at amazing prices.

My favorite rice? Jasmine Rice from Thailand: a particular brand. It's the most fragrant of the rices and has a great flavor. The only place I can buy it is from places like Amazon. I buy 25lbs at a time. Lasts me a while.



Also, here's a photo of the layering on one of the batches of croissants I made:

https://i.imgur.com/VDuhHEa.png

samhain
Originally posted by shiv
Do you use a pasta sauce or do you make your own pasta sauce

In some grocery stores just ask if they have popping corn kernels ... after you're done being given a blank stare you may be directed to a range of salted, sugared or otherwise flavored popped corn and microwave oven popping corn and 1 maybe 2 different packs of seed.


Tomato sauce for pasta is one of the simplest things to make, takes slightly longer to cook than the 'in a jar' variety, of which you get far too much of TBH. Chopped tomatoes, onion, garlic, basil and boom!

The supermarkets over here sell plain, raw kernels, most of the big stores even have a whole aisle dedicated to raw, natural ingredients. Not saying this is what you did but when looking for an unusual item I'll avoid asking a member of staff who is barely out of their teens, the older ones have more of a clue.

shiv

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